Vowels, Consonants in Marathi and their pronunciation

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http://learnmarathiwithkaushik.com/

All lessons from this blog and more are available there

In this lesson we will learn pronunciation of alphabets in Marathi

Friends, In the beginning we will write Marathi in English script. So as to enable you to read it, we will decide some conventions for it. 

Note that in some cases there is some difference in pronunciation when capital letter is used in stead of small letter. e.g n/N ; t/T ; d/D 

Go through it once. You may not remember all pronunciation now. But as and when you will use it in sentence, come back to these rule and check it. After few days you will remember it automatically.

Also I have mentioned Devanagari symbols. So later when we will start using Devanagari. you can refer this chart to get the sound for each symbol.

Vowels

Lets start studying Marathi vowels. In Marathi, vowels are added to consonants. Most of them are easy to pronounce, ऋ is slightly challenging. Marathi vowels retain much of their original Sanskrit pronunciation making some of them different from their Hindi counterparts. A notable example is औ (au), pronounced as owl in Marathi but as Oxford in Hindi. ऑ (Ao) is a special vowel used for loan English words, and 
is pronounced as in doctor.

Devanagari	Transliteration used here	Examples
अ	a	as in allow
आ	A	as in hard
इ	i	as in hit
ई	I	as in mean
उ	u	as in put
ऊ	U	as in hoot
ए	e	as in main
ऐ	ai	as in fight
ओ	o	as in Oh my God
औ	au	as in owl
अं	aM	as sound of "um" in number, sound of "um" as in jum
अः	aH	as “uh” in huh?
अ‍ॅ	~a	as in “bat”
ऑ	~o	as in O in Oxford
ऋ	Ru	as “ru” in ruby;“roo” in “roof”

Listen pronunciation of vowels online at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP5XVBjkgQg

or
https://soundcloud.com/kaushik-lele/pronunciation-of-vowels-in-marathi-learn-marathi

Pronunciation of ऋ(Ru) is different in Hindi and Marathi.

In Hindi ऋ(Ru)  is pronounced as रि(ri). Where as in Marathi sound is similar to रु (ru).

Listen pronunciation of ऋ Ru
https://soundcloud.com/kaushik-lele/pronunciation-of-ru-learn-marathi

Consonants

Now lets us learn consonants in Marathi. Many Marathi consonants come in three different forms: aspirated, unaspirated and retroflex.

Aspiration means with a puff of air, and is the difference between the sound of the letter p in English pin (aspirated) and spit (unaspirated). Retroflex consonants, on the other hand, are not really found in English. They should be pronounced with the tongue tip curled back. Practice with a native speaker, or just pronounce as usual — you'll usually still get the message across.

Devanagari	Transliteration	Equivalent/Comments
क	k	as in skip.
ख	kh	as in sinkhole.
ग	g	as in go.
घ	gh	as in doghouse.
ङ	G	as in sing. Used only in Sanskrit loan words, does not occur independently.
च	ch	as in church.
छ	Ch	as in pinchhit.
ज	j	as in jump.
झ	jh	as in dodge her.
ञ	nY	as in canyon. Used only in Sanskrit loan words, does not occur independently.
ट	T	as in tick. Retroflex, but still a hard t sound similar to English.
ठ	Th	as in lighthouse. Retroflex
ड	D	as in doom. Retroflex
ढ	Dh	as in mudhut. Retroflex
ण	N	retroflex n, as in grand.
त	t	does not exist in English. more dental t, with a bit of a th sound. Softer than an English t.
थ	th	aspirated version of the previous letter, not as in thanks or the.
द	d	dental d.
ध	dh	aspirated version of the above d.
न	n	n in man, pan
प	p	as in spin.
फ	ph	as in uphill.
ब	b	as in be.
भ	bh	as in abhor.
म	m	as in mere.
य	y	as in yet.
र	r	r in rat
ल	l	as in lean.
व	v	as in Spanish vaca, between English v and w, but without the lip rounding of an English w.
श	sh	as in shoot.
ष	Sh	almost indistinguishable retroflex of the above. slightly more aspirated.
स	s	as in see.
ह	h	as in him.
ळ	L	as in Norwegian farlig. Retroflex lateral approximent
क्ष	kSh	As in k + sh
ज्ञ	dny	Pronounced as d + n + y

Listen pronunciation of Consonants at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP5XVBjkgQg

or
https://soundcloud.com/kaushik-lele/marathi-alphabet-pronunciation-learn-marathi

There are two sounds for symbols च(ch) ज(j) झ (jh) listen them at

https://soundcloud.com/kaushik-lele/ch-j-jh-two-pronunciations-learn-marathi

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaZhMH1cqdo

Listen difference in pronunciation of श(sh) and ष(Sh) at
https://soundcloud.com/kaushik-lele/difference-in-pronunciation-of-sh-and-sh-learn-marathi
or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WYaMkcSIxM

Listen pronunciation of ळ(L) at

https://soundcloud.com/kaushik-lele/pronunciation-of-l-learn-marathi

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYFGfIcmMZU

Pronunciation of ज्ञ(dny) is different in Hindi and Marathi. Listen this difference at

https://soundcloud.com/kaushik-lele/pronunciation-of-dny-learn-marathi

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7WZmQnV8P0